I Built a Site Just to See If I Still Could

I built a website just to see if I still could.

That’s not a flex. I didn’t spin up a full-stack app or architect a multi-region backend. I didn’t even need a site, really. I just needed a real-enough problem to remind myself what it feels like to build from scratch.

It started as an experiment: Could I get ChatGPT to generate a decent single-page site for a grassroots volleyball event series I’ve been planning? Something clean, modern, and functional. Not flashy—just good enough to ship.

Because to do something is to learn something. And for me, it sticks better when there’s a personal reason behind it.

Prompting Isn’t Building

At first, I treated it like a prompt challenge. Could I guide the LLM to give me the layout, content, and aesthetic I had in my head?

The answer: kinda.

I got close enough to see the shape of it. But not close enough to publish. And each round of copy-paste felt like waiting for a local dev server to restart—slow and clumsy.

That’s when I stopped fighting the tools and started setting up the system.

Muscle Memory in the Terminal

First came GitHub and a shell repo. Then SSH key setup. Then remembering how to clone, push, and actually work in a local repo. That led me to Netlify for deployment, which introduced its own (welcome) constraints. I hadn’t touched a CI/CD pipeline in years.

Next came VS Code. Plugins. Live server preview. Auto-formatting. It felt like shaking off rust—annoying at first, then oddly satisfying.

Once things were wired up, I started using ChatGPT less like a code generator and more like a junior developer. Fast at boilerplate. Fine at refactors. Bad at decisions. It worked—if I stayed in the lead.

Choosing Control (Then Letting It Go)

Eventually I realized I was jumping through hoops to avoid using a template engine like Squarespace. I wanted full control of the code. But I also wanted polish and speed.

I tried Webflow, Wix, and even flirted with WordPress. But they all came with the same friction: abstraction wrapped in visual clutter. Tools built for a different kind of builder.

I went back to Squarespace. It was already where I registered my domains. I picked a clean theme and started customizing. I still used some command line tools. I still explored SVG generators. I still embedded filtered Instagram feeds tailored by hashtag.

The point was never to avoid tools. The point was to re-engage with the process. To remember what it felt like to think in terms of systems, dependencies, and loops.

Why Bother?

Because building is a way of thinking.

Because frustration is often the doorway to understanding.

Because every now and then, it’s worth checking whether your hands still know what to do.

They did.